Effects of Rehearsal and Imagery on STM Recall

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Introduction

Effects of Rehearsal and Imagery on STM Recall Rehearsal acts as a buffer between memory and Long Term Memory, by maintaining information within the Short Term Memory. The effects of repeated presentation depend on whether the repeated stimulus is merely processed to the same level, or encoded differently on its further presentations. The Serial Position Effect is the likelihood of remembering any word, depending on its position in the list. Better recall of the words early in the list results from Primacy Effect. They get rehearsed and stored in the Long Term Memory. Therefore, this proves that rehearsal increases the chance of remembering. Words towards the end of the list are still in the Short Term Memory so are also easily recalled. Imagery is different to verbal memory and is defined as the creation of a mental picture. It helps with the organization of the memory, and the more bizarre the image, the more likely we are to remember it. Paivio (1971) agreed, proposing that the processing of words and images occurs separately. Concrete words are encoded twice, once as verbal symbols and again as image-based symbols. ...read more.

Middle

Computational Models: the current focus of interest. For example, Kosslyn (1980) described how visual images can be represented in a special, spatial medium. There would be two forms of data structure: image files (a skeletal outline and co-ordinates to position it) and propositional files (which contain information about components and their interrelations). Visual Memory: recognition of pictures is extremely high, supporting a visual mode of thinking. Shepard (1967) showed subjects 612 'memorable' pictures. He then showed them 98 pairs of pictures, one of which was new. Subjects were able to identify 99.7% of the original of pictures after two hours and even 120 days later by some individuals. Stroymeyer (1970) tested one eidetiker, 'E', with sets of computer-generated dots. She was first shown one set and later another set. Taken together the dots produce a three-dimensional image, which E was able to see in her 'mind'. According to the working memory model (Baddeley, 1986), human verbal short-term memory performance, as studied in immediate aerial recall (ISR) tasks, depends on the articulatory loop, which consists of a phonological store for verbal material, and mechanisms that enable rehearsal. ...read more.

Conclusion

Images that I create will have less power and impact for you, because they reflect the way in which we think. The more strongly you imagine and visualise a situation, the more effectively it will stick in your mind for later recall. Mnemonic imagination can be as violent, vivid, or sensual as you like, as long as it helps you to remember what needs to be remembered. Location Location provides you with two things: a coherent context into which information can be placed so that it hangs together, and a way of separating one mnemonic from another: e.g. by setting one mnemonic in one village, I can separate it from a similar mnemonic located in another place. Location provides context and texture to your mnemonics, and prevents them from being confused with similar mnemonics. For example, by setting one mnemonic with visualisations in the town of Horsham in the UK and another similar mnemonic with images of Manhattan allows us to separate them with no danger of confusion. So using the three fundamentals of Association, Imagination and Location you can design images that strongly link things with the links between themselves and other things, in a context that allows you to recall those images in a way that does not conflict with other images and associations. Elly Lucas Psychology Page 1 of 5 ...read more.

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